group

GROOP/ɡɹuːp/

Pluralgroups

Verbgroups, grouping, grouped

16 meanings of group

Practice

1
several togethernouncountable
People or things that belong together or share something.
Like a bunch of grapes joined on the same stem.
A group of friends waited outside the theater.
We split into smaller groups for the activity.
UsageSay a group of friends. The verb can be is or are.
Similarband, party, crowd, cluster
2
bandnouncountable
A small set of people who play or sing music together.
Like a sports team, but instead of playing, they make music.
Their group plays at the cafe every Friday.
He left the group to start a solo career.
Similarband, ensemble, act
3
put togetherverbtransitive
To put people or things together, or to come together, in a group.
Like sorting your toys into boxes that belong together.
Please group the red blocks on this side.
The teacher grouped the students by age.
UsageSay group things by size or group people into teams.
Similarorganize, arrange, sort, classify, categorize
Oppositeseparate, divide, scatter
4
business firmnouncountable
A set of companies that are owned or controlled together and run as one business.
Like one big company that looks after several smaller ones it owns.
Our company is part of a large group that also owns two banks.
She works for a large media group.
Similarcompany, corporation, conglomerate, firm
Note
5
tournament poolnouncountable
A set of teams that play only against each other in a tournament.
Like splitting a class into small teams that play only each other.
Our team finished top of its group.
The four groups each had five teams.
Similarpool
Note

Less common meanings

6
table columnnouncountable
A column in the periodic table that holds elements acting in similar ways.
Like a column on a chart where everything in that line is alike.
Sodium and potassium belong to the same group.
Elements in one group often share the same number of outer electrons.
Similarfamily
Note
7
atom clusternouncountable
A set of atoms in a molecule that controls how it reacts with other substances.
Like the working part of a tool that does the main job.
The hydroxyl group helps small alcohols such as ethanol mix with water.
Each group in the molecule reacts in its own way.
Note
8
algebranouncountable
In math, a set of items with a rule for combining any two, following a few fixed conditions.
Like a set of moves where doing nothing counts and every move can be undone.
The whole numbers together with their negatives form a group under addition.
Many groups appear in the study of symmetry.
Note
9
user permissionsnouncountable
A set of computer users who all have the same permissions.
Like everyone holding the same key card getting into the same rooms.
The admin added her to the editors group.
Users in this group can change shared files.
Note
10
air unitnouncountable
A unit in an air force made up of several smaller squadrons.
Like a team made up of several smaller teams.
The fighter group flew north at dawn.
The fighter group was made up of three squadrons of planes.
Note
11
joined notesnouncountable
Several short notes joined together at their stems in written music.
Like a few beads strung together on one thread.
Those four fast notes are joined at their stems to make one group.
Draw one line across the stems so the eighth notes form a group.
Note
12
curve pointsnounarchaic
In math, a collection of points marked on a curve, counted with how often each one appears.
Note
13
nouncolloquialuncountable
Short for group therapy: meetings where several people talk about their problems together with a therapist.
I can't come over on Thursday because I have group.
At group last night, a new member told her story for the first time.
UsageSay go to group, with no a or the.
14
noun
A set of related rock layers grouped together as one large unit.
15
noun
A small set of galaxies that lie close together in space.
16
noun
The part of an espresso machine where hot water pours out onto the coffee.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of group apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

This word comes from French "groupe," meaning a cluster or group. Later, a French mathematician named Galois used the word in a special math sense in 1830.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

English group comes from French groupe. fr.wiktionary.org
French groupe means a cluster or group. en.wiktionary.org
The French mathematician Galois used the word mathematically in 1830. fr.wiktionary.org